First Ohio WordPress Meetup A Success

The first Ohio WordPress meetup went off last night as a success. While we did not have a huge crowd (only five people) the first event proved to be a nice base to build upon. Kim Parsell, Angelo Mendato, Jeff Lee, Brian Layman and myself were all in attendance. We discussed everything from caching to databases to WordPress MU, BuddyPress, and finally social media stuff like Twitter and Facebook. A couple things I noticed about the event.

First, when you’re surrounded by a group of people engaged in a discussion about WordPress or what have you, time flies. Those were the quickest three hours I think I’ve ever lived through. Secondly, participating on Twitter while those individuals are in the same room as you is funny, just because it is. Lastly, I feel as though in those three hours of discussion, I accomplished more than I would have if I participated in just a forum, Twitter, or comments on a blog post. It felt great to discuss a number of things in real time, face to face.

Again I want to thank all of those who were in attendance. During the event, Brian Layman recorded the meetup and he is going to try and put the recording on Ustream.TV. If he does, I’ll publish another update containing the video.

Next months WordPress Meetup will be on Thursday, May 28th at 7PM EDT. I’ll be giving a 15-25 minute presentation about what’s new in WordPress 2.8. To register for the event, head on over to Upcoming.Yahoo.com where I’ve added next months event to the schedule.

The guy who ran WordCamp Toronto 2008 was sort of doing the meetups in Toronto. I signed up on that meeting site (it gave you a chance to rsvp and get updates), I had bad luck as I had work related issues/events dumped into me last minute for a few months. Eventually he gave up/quit/left.
I tried to take over the “group” but the website asked to pay to manage the group.

Anyways, no one too over the meetup (i think that’s the name of the website), it went the way of the dodo bird. I would love to start a WordPress meet up – monthly maybe?
I have no idea how to start it, I could talk to the people running WordCamp Toronto 2009 which are Toronto’s open source culture group. I just don’t know how to go about it.

By the way, why are you not speaking at WordCamp Toronto 2009? This fact alone is making me cry in my bed night after night. Man I need a new pillow cover.

@Miroslav Glavic – Hmm, I suppose I could write an article providing some tips on how to do one but essentially, find someone local in your area who is into WP that you can partner up with. I wouldn’t recommend going at it alone although it’s certainly possible.

With regards to speaking, I have never been invited to speak at a WordCamp event before and even if I were, I would have no idea on what to talk about as I don’t have a particular skillset in which I’m a pro at. However, I would love to fulfill the role as a panel moderator which is mostly what I do on WordPress Weekly. Maybe a panel on the GPL ant themes? LOL

@Mark – I know it’s a long drive from Toledo to Akron but after talking to Brian this day, time, and location is what works out best for the both of us. All of the other days and times simply don’t coincide well together. Any chance you could organize a northwest Ohio meetup? Jeff Lee resides around Norwalk Ohio and I bet Toledo would be a much quicker drive than to Akron.